COMEBACK KIDS || Ursuline rallies in final quarter to beat rival

By Jon Moffett

Ursuline rallies in final quarter to beat rival

The Irish were down by 11 points at halftime but rallied back with a strong fourth-quarter effort.

YOUNGSTOWN — It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty, but it was a W.

Despite trailing by almost a dozen at halftime and scoring only six points in the second quarter, the Ursuline Fighting Irish were able to outlast arch-rival Mooney Thursday night and left their home gymnasium with a 65-56 win.

“Truthfully, after last time we played them and blew them out of the water, I think we came in here with that mentality and I think they caught us off guard a little bit,” said Ursuline senior Chase Connors, referring to a 62-36 victory over Mooney earlier this season. “You do want to win big again, but it’s another win in the win column and I can’t complain. I’m happy.”

The Cardinals (6-8) began the game on an 8-3 run. All three points for the Irish (7-5) came on free throws. But the Irish rallied back and took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter.

That’s when it appeared the Irish’s luck had run out.

Mooney came out firing in the second quarter. Eight minutes and 24 points later, the Irish were staring at a 37-26 deficit going into halftime.

“That was definitely an odd one,” Ursuline coach Sean Durkin said. “I think we played as fundamentally poor in the second quarter as we could, and yet we were still down by only 11 points.”

The Irish struck gold in the third quarter and that deficit quickly vanished.

Ursuline went on a run of its own and opened the third frame on a 9-2 run. Mooney added only two more points in the quarter, and the stat sheet read 49-41 Ursuline after three.

Mooney coach Jack Bermann said he saw a noticeable improvement with his team from the first meeting this season.

“The first time we played them we played them at our place,” he said. “The first eight possessions we had eight turnovers, no shots and we were down 11 to nothing. So we corrected some of those things in the first half ... In the second half [Ursuline] made some adjustments and we were weren’t able to stop the run.”

The Cardinals had to deal with injury issues early in the game. Junior Elena Andino-Esparra tweaked her right thigh and sat out most of the second quarter and the entire second half. She had six points prior to leaving the game.

Despite the loss, Bermann was quick to credit the Irish on a gutty victory.

“Ursuline is a good team and they took care of business,” he said. “If you look at their schedule at the end of the year, they’re playing Regina, Hathaway Brown, Walsh Jesuit and St. Vincent-St. Mary. That’s a Division I schedule, and they’re Division III.”

Mooney junior Chyna Davis led her team with 14 points, and senior Dominique Zordich was behind her with 10.

But it was Ursuline sophomore Aurielle Irizarry who had a big night, scoring 23 points. She had seven baskets and nine free throws. She made her last six free throws to seal the game.

“She’s a dynamic athlete, and we need her to play like that for us,” Durkin said. “She’s the kind of kid that other people have to concern themselves with, and she came up big today in a big situation. And that’s a lot to ask from a sophomore.”

Durkin said the rivalry between the two Catholic high schools probably gave the players a little more incentive to finish.

“No matter if it’s football, basketball, soccer or volleyball, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s Ursuline-Mooney and as the cliche says, throw the records out because it really doesn’t matter.”

Connors, who finished with two points, said the team tried to avoid the rivalry hoopla in practice leading up to the game.

“Preparing for them we did a few things here and there in practice because we knew they were going to come at us because there was so much emotion on the game,” she said. “But for the most part, we just had the mentality that we had to go on there in play. Yeah, it was Mooney, but it was also just another game.”

jmoffett@vindy.com